Jade frowned slightly. Light in the water.

Nina, who was fiddling with her stubby fingertips, carefully continued speaking.

“There was a time when I found a letter inside a glass bottle that had drifted in the water… I thought it might be something like that.”

“Nina, I told you the water in the lake is dangerous!”

As Pavel shouted, Nina hugged her rag doll tightly with a gloomy face. Jade quickly interjected.

“Pavel, Nina is still young. It’s an age when curiosity is stronger. I’m sure she’s reflecting on it too.”

“This forest doesn’t forgive such things.”

“It must be a very difficult place for a child.”

At that, Pavel’s head drooped.

“If we had continued living in the city…”

“Even if this hadn’t happened, it would have been a place where other problems could easily arise. Don’t blame yourself.”

At the gentle consolation, Axel looked at Jade with a surprised expression. It was very different from her earlier behavior of throwing a tantrum insisting on taking the reins.

Noticing that gaze, Jade cleared her throat.

It was an ability she had developed because she needed to be good at speaking like this to lead mages and knights with broken personalities. Although she had acted recklessly in the forest, she couldn’t live like that outside.

She quickly gestured for Nina to continue speaking. Nina glanced at Pavel nervously before continuing.

“The, the shiny thing kept moving, so I thought it was moving with the current.”

“And then?”

“I grabbed it. I tried to pull it out of the water, but something grabbed my arm…”

The rest was obvious without hearing it. An intelligent monster knew what a child would like and shook it in the water. Then it would have grabbed the hand that came in and bitten it.

“Did you happen to see what the monster looked like?”

“Well, I didn’t see it clearly… I turned around and ran very quickly.”

The girl gulped.

“But… I heard a sound following me from behind, like swish-swish. Like something sweeping across the ground. From the corner of my eye, I think I saw a long tail and flat feet.”

Jade, who detested anything that crawled, smiled brightly without showing the goosebumps on her back.

“It must have been a terrible memory, but thank you for being brave. Here’s some more bitter medicine! Make sure to take it well. Have a sip after each meal.”

The girl looked betrayed, but Pavel was very grateful.

Jade chuckled, teasing the child that “adults are on the side of adults.” Then she pulled Axel along.

He followed obediently. Of course, he had no choice.

As soon as she opened the door to the house, Jade rushed to a chair and collapsed. Axel calmly closed the door.

A gloomy voice flowed out involuntarily.

“Life isn’t easy.”

“I agree.”

“I’ve rarely seen cases where they can move both in water and on land. Of all things.”

“They say monsters grow stronger the more people they eat. Since it waved something shiny to lure, it must be quite clever too. Definitely one that needs to be killed.”

Hearing those words, Jade forgot her worries and suddenly giggled.

“To be honest, it’s really unexpected. When we first met, I thought you didn’t care about other people’s circumstances at all. But here you are, going out to hunt monsters for the forest people!”

“Ah, that’s because you had all the characteristics I dislike. I’m actually quite kind by nature.”

The nonchalant response infuriated her.

“What did you say!”

“I’m surprised too. I didn’t know you were good with children.”

“I have some younger cousins. I was almost the eldest…”

Asela. The smile she used to make was vivid. The yellow ribbon hanging over her hair braided into two pigtails. Jade thought that since she was older, she should make Asela happy.

Changing her tone to be more cheerful and her behavior to be more lively. But what she got in return was betrayal, or something like it.

Her mood dropped slightly. But Axel didn’t let her dwell on her sentiments.

“You do seem to match mentally in terms of age.”

“…”

“Anyway, it won’t be easy. It’s in the water.”

Jade glared at him briefly before quickly composing her expression. Then she cleared her throat shyly.

“Ahem.”

Axel looked at her with a somewhat disgusted expression before sighing.

“Damn it.”

“I heard that mages are good at luring monsters like that. Do you know anything about it?”

“It’s annoying.”

“I’ll take that as agreement? Great! Let’s get rid of it right away. It’s not good to leave unpleasant things lingering in your mind for too long.”

Saying that, Jade smiled brightly.

“It’s okay. I trust you. Of course, it must be very burdensome for you.”

“How comforting.”

Axel said sarcastically.

There wasn’t much to prepare. A thorough plan and warm clothes?

After making plans and precisely designating and sharing what each of them needed to do, the two began preparing to leave for the lakeside.

But before that, Axel suggested that Jade go to Ollie’s house.

“That old woman has a lot of stuff. Go steal it.”

“What does she have…?”

“Go there and explain in detail, at length, and pitifully that you’re going to do something very dangerous but it will help the old woman too. You’re good at that kind of thing, aren’t you?”

Jade went to Ollie’s house with a puzzled look. The old woman was sweeping inside the fence full of fallen leaves.

“Oh my, I thought you wouldn’t come back today. The sun will set soon, what brings you here? Did you make up?”

“Yes! We made up. But there’s something I need to tell you.”

Jade faithfully followed Axel’s advice. With drooping eyes and a pitiful face, she explained what she had to do that night.

I ended up deciding to be the bait, but it’s not because they don’t care about me. It’s because I trust Axel…

But since she didn’t know what she was supposed to obtain, her words kept trailing off. Why am I here again?

But Ollie once again burst into laughter mixed with coughing.

“So you told that Axel guy it’s because you trust him!”

“Yes, well, that’s right…”

“Hahaha!”

Jade stood quietly. She really didn’t understand why the old woman was acting like this…

“Oh my, if things keep being this fun, it makes me want to live even longer. Now, wait here. It seems Axel sent you, I know what he wants.”

Jade waited, timidly threatening the rooster lingering near her feet – stop crowing in the morning! – and soon received the item Ollie gave her.

“Huh…?”

“Since you’re a mage, I’m sure you know how to use it.”

“Isn’t this a magic stone?”

What the old woman gave her along with a bundle of dust was a stone with a soft glow, its rough exterior contrasting with its highly transparent interior. Ollie spoke as if it were nothing special.

“It’s engraved with wind attribute defensive magic. I have no use for it, so take it with you today and use it when you’re in danger.”

“Really…?”

Jade looked at the old woman with trembling eyes.

Magic stones were literally stones engraved with magic and were quite valuable items.

There were two reasons they were valuable. They required both a stone of appropriate hardness that could hold magic and a skilled mage.

It was already difficult to find a mage skilled enough to infuse the desired magic, and it was also hard to find minerals that could maintain stability.

These days, thanks to extensive research, they mostly used the relatively easy-to-obtain lazulite, but what Ollie gave her was made with dillidot. Judging by the energy emanating from it, the level of spell processing was also extremely high.

Does she know its value? I think this could buy a small plot of land if sold.

“I haven’t used it in five years, so I won’t need it in the future either. It’s payment for the joy you’ve given me. Come back safely without getting hurt.”

Payment for joy? At this rate, she thought she might be doing a decent job as a jester.

The wrinkled face with its gentle smile seemed to shine especially brightly today. Jade carefully put the magic stone in her pocket.

“I’ll use it well. But, this is the Athanase Forest, will the magic stone work here?”

“Ah, yes. That’s what I wanted to ask. Jade, why do you think magic doesn’t work in this forest?”

Jade tilted her head.

“Well, I’ve only thought about it sometimes before bed.”

“Is that so? Let’s hear your thoughts.”

Seeing the kind face, Jade was somehow reminded of the days when she used to read basic magic textbooks.

Her grandmother, Mabel, while wanting Jade to become an excellent mage, didn’t want Jade to develop a strong sense of self due to outside influences. So she kept changing the educators according to her whims.

As a result, Jade often refused teachers to avoid Mabel’s interference. She even thought it was better to study alone.

It would have been nice if there had been a teacher who looked at her with eyes like Ollie’s.

So she answered seriously without realizing it.

“They say the spells mages utter are prayers offered to the gods. That’s why even for similar magic, the spells mages recite vary greatly. How could all prayers be the same? When different people are speaking them.”

“Hmm.”

“So, for reasons I don’t know, maybe in the Athanase Forest, the gods can’t answer those prayers?”

Jade pondered her own words and then gave a bland smile.

“Well, I just thought about it because they always say it’s a cursed land. The gods wouldn’t reside in a cursed land.”

Ollie smiled, almost imperceptibly.

“Not a bad inference.”

“Is that so? It’s just words without any evidence.”

“Is there evidence in matters related to gods? If there were, we’d have to write theology books. Anyway, I hope you’ll keep thinking about it today. By the way, you can use the magic stone. I tried using it to create sparks. Oh, look, here comes someone as big as a door.”

Turning around, she saw Axel coming, leading a horse. Dressed all in black, he looked even more intimidating than usual today.

“That must be quite a large door.”

“Indeed. It certainly wouldn’t be the doors of the houses in the Athanase Forest.”

The houses here are quite small, after all.

Jade grinned at Ollie’s calm joke and thanked her.

The old woman smiled gently and also handed her a shiny red cloth. It was her deep wish that if Jade was going to be bait, she should be the most splendid bait possible.